"We are going to the moon, we shall go to the planets, we shall travel to the stars just as today we go from Liverpool to New York, easily, rapidly, surely, and the oceans of space will be crossed like the seas of the moon". Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon, Ch. XIX (1865)

Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager is the ultimate game of space exploration. Releasing on PC, Mac and iPad in June this year, this exciting title will take players on a journey of exploration and space conquest from the dawn of human spaceflight to modern space exploration vehicles and on to the future.

To ensure the accuracy and authenticity of the game it is being developed in consultation with Dr. Buzz Aldrin, former U.S. Air Force combat pilot (66 missions in Korea) and NASA astronaut, who took part in the first Moon landing mission and became the second human being to walk on the Moon.

"Working with Buzz Aldrin in this project is a fascinating journey", said Ignacio Liverotti, Lead Developer at Polar Motion, developer of the game. "As a fan of space exploration, it's a dream to be able to work on such an exciting title and having Dr. Aldrin as a consultant".

In Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager players are in charge of carefully managing the agency's budget by opening programs, spending R&D funds on improving the hardware, recruiting personnel and astronauts and launching space missions. Road to the Moon is the first chapter in a series of three engaging games that will take players on a fantastic journey.

"We have been branching out to new platforms and settings recently", said Iain McNeil, Development Director of the Slitherine Group. "Games such as Commander: the Great War and Battle Academy on iPad prove we can expand our audience by widening our range of titles. Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager is certainly a great example on how we can attract new players, but stick to our roots of intelligent gameplay and in-depth, well researched content".

Game Features

•Manage all aspects of your fledgling space agency from the 1950’s through to the Lunar landings in the first episode. Later episodes will add a permanent space station in Earth orbit all the way to the ultimate goal – a Manned Mission to Mars! •Create space programs and launch missions inspired by real programs such as the X-15 Space plane and the Sputnik satellite through to the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo manned spacecrafts and more! •Research and develop hundreds of mission components from 40 different program categories. •Develop your facility with advanced structures and upgrades including the Vehicle Assembly Building, the Mission Control Center and the Observatory. •Recruit and train astronaut candidates and assign them to missions. •Assemble an elite team of Scientists, Engineers, Technicians and Flight Controllers for the best chance of success. •Manage your agency's extensive budget. •Components can cause catastrophic failures. You must decide whether to abort or push on with each mission. •Vast amounts of research ensure the huge database includes missions that launched and many more that never left the drawing board! •In Campaign Mode, manage your agency while pandering to the requirements of government to keep your position as Director! •Play in Sand Box mode to manage your budget with no politics involved. •Hundreds of components built in 3D and rendered out in exquisite detail allow you to follow the progress of your missions. •A historic advisor gives background information on the real missions and astronauts throughout the game. •Designed in consultation with Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 Lunar Module Pilot and the second human being to set foot on the Moon.

Sound interesting but forget Mars. Think big, go Titan. This is a place where I would like to go with it's unique Liquid weather environment. The pairing of low gravity with dense atmosphere easily allows the use of ornicopters. Flying through the sky powered only by your own muscles.

ORIGINAL: Terminus No Cold War scenario? That's... disappointing. Don't get me wrong, still going to follow this, but no Space Race?

Not true. Did you read this part?

quote:

Manage all aspects of your fledgling space agency from the 1950’s through to the Lunar landings in the first episode. Later episodes will add a permanent space station in Earth orbit all the way to the ultimate goal – a Manned Mission to Mars!

The game's main focus in on exploration and having a great range of programs to choose from in order to try different approaches. That being said, you'll definitely get a competition aspect in the Campaign mode, as you'll have to adhere to the strict deadlines issued by the nations that own the GSA!

I'm very interested in SPM, since BARIS or RIS is one of my favorite games. I'm also glad that Leon Baradat will be a beta tester. He is the soul for the actual RIS project and he made a lot of improvements.

As I read it's going to be released for Windows, MAC and iPad. Are you also planning to make an Android release (for tablets)?

ORIGINAL: Terminus No Cold War scenario? That's... disappointing. Don't get me wrong, still going to follow this, but no Space Race?

Not true. Did you read this part?

quote:

Manage all aspects of your fledgling space agency from the 1950’s through to the Lunar landings in the first episode. Later episodes will add a permanent space station in Earth orbit all the way to the ultimate goal – a Manned Mission to Mars!

What I meant was a US vs USSR Race to the Moon scenario, like in BARIS.

well i will greatly love competition of us vs ussr who will land first on moon - like it was in baris - if your onlyest competition will be demand from politicks, it will be great dissapointement. But since this game will is "multistage" game,then losing space race doesnt will mean end of game, you can contiey, oyu just imply lose first scenario.

The USSR/USA space race may be something we look at later but we wanted to do something a little different to BARIS. We wanted to free you up to undertake programs that all nations had brought to the drawing board, not just the US and USSR, but others like China, ESA etc. If there is a mission that has flown then it will be available to you and a huge number that never left the drawing board will be available too. If you have any interest is space at all this is going to be epic! :)

The USSR/USA space race may be something we look at later but we wanted to do something a little different to BARIS. We wanted to free you up to undertake programs that all nations had brought to the drawing board, not just the US and USSR, but others like China, ESA etc. If there is a mission that has flown then it will be available to you and a huge number that never left the drawing board will be available too. If you have any interest is space at all this is going to be epic! :)

Oh, I'll definitely be watching this. Did I read right that there's an iPad version coming as well?

BARIS....my favorite computer game of all time. I was hoping that it would be remade one day along with the other parts that came after the moon landings. I still remember the system requirements of the original. You had to have a 286-16SX or better processor. The game was about a full decade ahead of it's time.

I like I like I like :) When will it come? Can I be betha tester? Still playing the first Baris. Actually got an Email answer from someone on the querry if there will be new version, long ago. The answer then was NO. Happy to hear it is in the works at last ;)

The USSR/USA space race may be something we look at later but we wanted to do something a little different to BARIS. We wanted to free you up to undertake programs that all nations had brought to the drawing board, not just the US and USSR, but others like China, ESA etc. If there is a mission that has flown then it will be available to you and a huge number that never left the drawing board will be available too. If you have any interest is space at all this is going to be epic! :)

So does this mean that we'll have all sorts of unflown rockets, like the various von Braun Saturn Proposals, or Gluskho's UR-700, along with various Space Shuttle proposals?

EDIT: The Saturn V-23(L) vehicle (see Figure 8-1) is a modified Saturn V with lengthened first and third stages, and adapted for attachment of four 260-inch diameter liquid propellant pods. The modified Saturn V core and liquid propellant pods uses standard F-l and J-2 engines. The SAT-V-23(L) first stage was lengthened 20 feet and the third stage lengthened 16.5 feet

The 131-foot long pods (as shown in Figure 8-4) attach to the MS-IC-23(L) stage at the outboard engine locations, use S-IC technology, structural concepts, and systems. Each pod has two standard F-1 engines which gimbal to supplement the control capabilities of the core vehicle Each pod is an independent stage which can be checked out and test fired as a unit.

Also, how editable will the game be? E.G. would we be able to open up a config file and add in our own hypothetical-never flown rockets, such as the various Post-Saturn giants, such as the 1968 Advanced Multipurpose Large Launch Vehicle (AMLLV); which would have been several things:

•Manage all aspects of your fledgling space agency from the 1950’s through to the Lunar landings in the first episode. Later episodes will add a permanent space station in Earth orbit all the way to the ultimate goal – a Manned Mission to Mars!

How this meant with "episodes"? The first installment of the game will take us to the moon, and afterwards there will be continuously released new DLC's and add-ons that gradually expand the base game? How many episodes will there be until we have a manned Mars mission? To hook up on #RyanCrierie questions can we hope to see some enthusiastic drawboard missions like Project Longshot, Deadalus or Icarus?

•Manage all aspects of your fledgling space agency from the 1950’s through to the Lunar landings in the first episode. Later episodes will add a permanent space station in Earth orbit all the way to the ultimate goal – a Manned Mission to Mars!

How this meant with "episodes"? The first installment of the game will take us to the moon, and afterwards there will be continuously released new DLC's and add-ons that gradually expand the base game? How many episodes will there be until we have a manned Mars mission? To hook up on #RyanCrierie questions can we hope to see some enthusiastic drawboard missions like Project Longshot, Deadalus or Icarus?

And dont forget the sudgested moonbase for research production income and maybee tourism :) Maybee the Mars mission can be launched from the moon.

Sudgested by NASA I forgot to mention. Also shall the private/national space agencys be handled in the game? Swedish Esrange(research/Tourism) Virgin Space Tourism initiative, European/chineese etc space programs. Thinking of later installment. Where time frame is aplicable.

Hmm, I hoped for some response on our questions by now but its still much to do as planned release is 3 month away. Better code than follow up Forum chatt I guess. Looking forward to the result. Extra christmas feeling hehe. Looking forward to potential good games is an excelent way to make time go slow eh. :)

ORIGINAL: Swedewolf Hmm, I hoped for some response on our questions by now but its still much to do as planned release is 3 month away. Better code than follow up Forum chatt I guess.

You're totally right on this one, we're working very hard on the game so sometimes it becomes a little bit hard for me to follow up the forum chat.

To answer some of the points raised in this thread: * The game is set in an alternate universe where there's a single space agency. I took this decision when I started working on this game (back in January 2007) because I wanted to put the emphasis on exploration, not competition. That being said, if you play the campaign mode you'll need to adhere to deadlines, so you'll definitely get a pressure in there in order to fulfill the required goals. * The game will be released in three parts. The first one will feature up to the Moon landings. Part two will cover building a space station in orbit and part three will be a manned mission to Mars. The game also features dozens of space probes borrowed from real-life missions from some of the biggest space agencies (e.g., NASA, ESA, JAXA, etc). * After you get part III, you'll have an huge tech tree to explore, so sandbox mode will provide a lot of replay value. * The game won't be moddable when it gets released. * The rockets featured in the game are all based on existing ones, except for a few exceptions.

If you have more questions, feel free to ask. I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible.

Hi Thanx for your reply. Actually got one question :). Are the missions gonna be animated or with real video clips as in BARIS? Also will it include roaring computer vibrating rocket sounds and mission dialoge? cheers

Hi Thanx for your reply. Actually got one question :). Are the missions gonna be animated or with real video clips as in BARIS? Also will it include roaring computer vibrating rocket sounds and mission dialoge? cheers

No worries, feel free to ask as much as you like!

The game includes hundreds of renders developed by us which feature some animation elements and special effects. The renders are similar to the ones we've shown in the screenshots from the press release and they were all produced internally by Mauricio, our 3D artist, which means that you will get a consistent look throughout the whole game. I'm attaching a picture of Mauricio's latest work, see if you can name the astronaut that proved that Galileo was right

Regarding sound effects, you'll definitely get rocket sounds and other effects while playing the missions in the mission execution screen!